Video: John Ziegler’s arrest

posted at 3:10 pm on April 16, 2009 by Ed Morrissey

From the Someone Left the Irony On Department, John Ziegler gets arrested by security guards outside USC’s Annenberg School of Journalism for committing … er … journalism. He wanted to ask people attending their ceremony honoring Katie Couric with their Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism about the award, and the Annenberg School of Journalism apparently objected to … er … journalism. Watch the whole video, as John provides a good running commentary:

Link:

When will Reporters Without Borders lodge a protest against the Annenberg School of Journalism for having journalists arrested? Would Walter Cronkite have approved of police locking up reporters for merely covering an event and walking on property that is very obviously open to the public in doing so?

The Annenberg School of Journalism … teaching journalists how to stonewall and intimidate … journalists.

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Comments

USC is a private institution on private property. If he did not leave when asked he was basically trespassing. The Campus Police had every right to remove him and the ‘Code Pink’ trick of slumping to the ground was beneath him. Seriously!

Read my other posts. A journalist would get press credentials to cover a private event. A journalist* goes to an event to cover it.

A self-promoting sensationalist goes to an event with a political angle trying to make a point, and when he’s rightfully kicked off private property whines about the 1st amendment and “journalism” being under attack.

*and for the record, I don’t consider that woman from CNN a journalist either.

I’m not a troll – but I do have to wonder, since I work at a university – didn’t they have a right to ask him to move along.

I totally agree that John had a right to be around – if it is a public campus; but the university has a right too for orderly conduct.

That is why the campus police should have let it stand with “Move along, sir.” and let it go at that. They were complete idiots to even touch him much less physically move him. If he’d been disruptive? Fine, taz him and have done with it. He only got loud after being hand-cuffed.

At that point – the police were wrong. Earlier – I’m of two minds. Sorry, but I kept thinking that if a man in uniform asks you politely to do something lawful – you obey. (Sorry, that sounds so Germanic doesn’t it…)

Also, he wasn’t arrested. Anyone who’s been arrested knows that it’s not a process that takes 10 minutes from initial confrontation to “freedom.” Whining about his rights being violated (when they weren’t) and him being arrested (when he wasn’t) puts us on the same level as the lefty protesters who did the same thing only months ago.

Of course, by the rules that were operational yesterday, since USC takes public funds (lots and lots) … you know the story, though I don’t think that rule applies today. Maybe it will be back in force tomorrow? It’s hard to tell.

I was talking about the actions – not the response. If John was wrong, he needed to be corrected. We know the moronic thugs at UNC were wrong – and they did not get corrected.

I hate to agree with calbear – I like John a lot – but I kept thinking that what he was doing was not much different than some liberal jerk at a conservative event. What I do object to, as well, is the “university” response. Though we might not have seen it. All they had to do was ask (order) him to move along and his camera. He should have complied and kept filming.
I’d like to know more.

When was the last time you were cuffed like that? Do you think there is anything normal about that?

It is like the NSA stuff, for years we hear how Bush will spy on us and then when Obama is in control, why it is all right..no big deal. If Obama wants to send people to Jordan to be tortured, what the hey…and if some guy asking questions after Couric gets an award for trashing Republicans…well that is okay. It is not as if conservatives have any civil rights or anything.

Strictly speaking from a legal standpoint, the entire campus of USC is private property and his permission to be there could be revoked by the University or their abents at any time.The C.P. handled it poorly but within their legal bounds.

What I do object to, as well, is the “university” response. Though we might not have seen it. All they had to do was ask (order) him to move along and his camera. He should have complied and kept filming.

The video picks up at some point after the campus police first approach them. Then cuts to the point where they arrest him. It seems there’s a lot of the conversation that’s not shown.

You ever heard of something called press credentials? Journalists, when covering an event, are required to have them. They don’t just show up.

Tom_Shipley on April 16, 2009 at 3:27 PM

Speaking from experience, journalists generally don’t need specific event credentials when covering an event from outside the event parameters as Ziegler clearly was. You don’t think CNN gets credentials and permission from, say, Karl Rove, when they cover a protest on his front lawn do you? And where do they set up cameras? Right on his driveway of course.

8. NPR journalists think carefully about the boundaries between legitimate journalistic pursuit and an individual’s right to privacy. We recognize that private people have a greater right to control information about themselves than do public officials and others who seek power, influence or attention. Only an overriding public need to know can justify intrusion into anyone’s privacy.

And if CNN or MSNBC or even Couric’s beloved CBS show this video, Ziegler will be portrayed a on of Jan Nappy’s and Botoxi’s right wing tea party astroturfing extremists.

Brat on April 16, 2009 at 3:48 PM

That’s just it! I want a higher standard from us. Just because they act like mindless drones of unsubstantiated dreck – means that we should be careful not to.

John could have made the exact same impact from an acceptable public place. There was not need for grandstand. Hey, I’m outraged too – but I have to wonder if he were not part of the problem as well.
What tips me off is – if they want him to go – tell the camera as well. They were not as professional as they could have been, but then John really had no reason to put them in that situation either. I expect better of him – and most conservatives.

Yes, and a plumber is a guy who’s got approval from union goonsquads instead of the guy who turns a wrench.

If they’re rentacops, they cannot legally detain him. If they’re actual cops, they should’ve Mirandized and booked him. The fact that they did neither tells me all I need to know about USC and its Annenberg School of Journalism. The fact that you defend their actions tells me all I need to know about your ambition.

You don’t think CNN gets credentials and permission from, say, Karl Rove, when they cover a protest on his front lawn do you? And where do they set up cameras?

In those cases, they don’t set up on people’s lawns. they set up out on the street on public property. Zeigler was on private property outside of the event.

And, again, Zeigler was not trying to “cover” this event. He obviously was went to it with a point to prove. My guess is that the university deemed that we was being bothersome to those trying to attend the event and asked him to leave.

than do public officials and others who seek power, influence or attention. Only an overriding public need to know can justify intrusion into anyone’s privacy.

faraway on April 16, 2009 at 3:53 PM

Thank you – that’s it. Come on, John – the choir knows Couric is an idiot. You wanted the non-informed to get it. You should have kept this way, way above-board.

However, that said -the moment they touched him – that was an error. The cuffs were just plain stupid. Though, I would love to know more about what happened, I think John does share in this being a situation.

In those cases, they don’t set up on people’s lawns. they set up out on the street on public property. Zeigler was on private property outside of the event.

I don’t what journalistic planet you’re from Tom – media organizations DO set up on private property early and often. And yes they did set up on Karl Rove’s driveway when the whole Fitzmas thing was going down, jamming microphones into his car while he politely tried to leave.

As to your point about what Ziegler was or was not covering or what agenda he had in covering the event – that’s not for you or anyone else to say. Its the right of a free press to cover whatever they want, focused on whatever THEY think is newsworthy.

Apparently Zeigler thought it was ironic and unfair that no press critical of Couric could get an invite and only invited press could attend. Usually a journalist just asks for media credentials for the event and are given them – one would think this would be especially true at a journalism school.

However, that said -the moment they touched him – that was an error. The cuffs were just plain stupid.

What were they supposed to do. They asked him to leave. He refused. Were they just supposed to keep asking? Or just give up and let him stay?

Tom_Shipley on April 16, 2009 at 3:59 PM

Well, Tom – here’s where we both agree and disagree. If indeed they asked him to move along – and he does not. He is breaking a law. They notify him that indeed he will be arrested (that’s part of it you know – the rights thing). Tell him exactly what he must do to avoid that. Then do it. It’s even good parenting (laugh).

So are you saying that wherever reporters go, they ALWAYS show their credentials and they ALWAYS have permission to be there? You need to get off the pipe and into rehab immediately. Your entire argument fails. Left wing reporters badger people all of the time, and they don’t give a damn whose property they are on and they don’t bother showing their “credentials.” Ziegler was doing what reporters from the MSM do every day and he had every right to do so.

The irony is precious. USC would have been smart to simply let Ziegler do his thing, as long as he was not obstructing movement.

As to Ziegler’s versus the school’s rights: While USC is a private school, do they function as public or quasi-public facility, thus losing some of their privacy rights? Have there been any California court cases regarding public rights on private college campuses in the state?

The people arguing that he should have been arrested are out to lunch.

He was not harassing anyone.
He was not blocking anyone.
He was not inside the building.
He is a journalist.

The only people they arrest for trespass at USC or other campuses is when they have a court order not to be on campus or when they are in a building because they are trying to commit a burglary or they are trying to squat in the building (a big problem for universities).

The campus police know that the prosecutor is not going to file charges on Ziegler. Trespass cases, for numerous reason, are very difficult to win if the defendant goes to trial. And for the listed reasons, they should have left Ziegler alone to begin with.

JohnP – I so badly want to completely agree with you, but from what I can see of the video, I honestly think John is partially at fault.

Worthy of handcuffs – nope. That was unbelievably stupid.

It did not look to me that either party was handling this particularly well. I just wish John had done this a bit better. I think he let his righteous outrage get the best of him. And I think the event folks were help out on that as well – the smug asshatness was pretty prevalent there.